Stubborn to Stubborn
by Kagome-reincarnation
Summary: So, since when was this room yours? RoyEd Fluff.


Fandom: Fullmetal Alchemist  
Characters: Edward Elric, Roy Mustang, Winry Rockbell, Riza Hawkeye  
Theme: Stubborn Father to Stubborn Son  
Warnings/Rating: Potty mouth, T  
Summary: "So, since when was this room yours?"  
Disclaimer: If I owned it, would I be sitting here writing fandoms of it?

"Oh, you must be shitting me." the blonde Elric said in straight out shock, not believing the words he'd just heard.

"Him? Worried?" he almost laughed- the idea of the Flame Alchemist Colonel Roy Mustang worried was just hilarious to him. Only a moment later, he found himself wincing in pain, and grasping at his middle. Bandages covered him, hiding a jagged slash in his right leg, cuts all up and down his arms and torso, a particularly nasty burn on his left shoulder, and a cut on his throat, where he'd been threatened. Aside from that, his automail arm had been completely destroyed, which meant he'd be dealing with some scolding from Winry, later. "Ow..."

"I know he doesn't act like it, but he is worried." Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye protested. She was a strict, but kind young woman. "It would help if you'd talk to him a bit, Edward." The tone of her voice was almost disapproving, but the Fullmetal Alchemist knew she didn't really mind. She'd long accepted that he and Mustang would argue until they both died. They were just too stubborn.

"If he'd stop being such a jerk, maybe I would." the blonde shot back. "Besides, he needs someone to take him down a notch or two." He shrugged, then winced.

"Well, I won't argue with that." the woman smiled. "Still, you must admit that he's earned his arrogance."

Ed grinned. "How do you earn arrogance?" he asked her. "He might be strong, and he might have a couple of brain cells still working in that head of his, but in now way has he earned arrogance. Apathy, maybe, but definitely not arrogance."

"What makes you say that?" Riza asked, curious, and a bit puzzled.

"He's ju-" the door opened, admitting Alphonse Elric and Winry Rockbell.

The mechanics otaku took one glance at his arm and turned red. "Just what were you doing?!" she demanded angrily as she marched over to him, completely ignoring Riza. "It's completely ruined! Do you have any idea how much work grandma and I put into this?!" She grabbed her trademark wrench from her bag, waving it in the boy's face precariously.

"Obviously not much if it broke that quickly." he muttered under his breathe. Al winced in sympathy as he saw their childhood friend striking the all too familiar blow that had once left the two of them with large lumps. The argument sufficiently ended, the girl took several other tools from her bag.

"I'll just be going now, then." Lieutenant Colonel Hawkeye said, shaking her head with a smile as she stood. "I need to get back to the office, anyways."

"Thanks for coming by." Ed said, grinning up at her.

"It's not trouble. Do you mind if Al comes back with me?"

"Al?" Ed looked at her curiously. Then, he turned to his brother. "Well?"

"I'll go. Maybe I can learn something there." the suit of armor said, before going into the hallway. "See you later, brother."

"Take care, Ed." The door closed again, and it was quiet for a moment. Then, Winry broke the silence.

"I don't know how much I can do for it. For now, you should probably just use a makeshift arm until I can get a good look at this." she said, frowning. "When do you get out of the hospital?"

"In about three weeks, if Major Armstrong stays away." Ed said, shrugging. Mentally, he winced at the idea. The last time Major Armstrong had visited him while he'd been injured had been particularly painful, and it wasn't an experience that he wanted to repeat.

"Then I'll just take this home. You bent a couple of parts in it that I can't fix without help from grandma."

"You can't take care of it here?" he asked her, a little uncomfortable with the idea.

"I could try, but at best, you'd be going around with parts of the insides sliding around. Too much movement would just make it fall apart again."

"Oh, alright." he agreed, frowning. "Do you have the makeshift with you?"

"Yeah." she grabbed her bag, and placed it on the bed before digging into it. Pulling the makeshift out, she sighed, almost in regret for the considerable amount of pain she was about to put Ed through. "You know what's coming, right?"

"Yeah." he said, eyes hard. "Let's just get this over with, same as usual. On three."

"Right." she said, swallowing a bit. It hurt Ed much more than it hurt her, but it still hurt to see it. "One..." she twisted two compartments of the automail. "Two..." She lifted another piece to make it lighter, and easier for her to take off. "Three!" She pulled at automail, dragging at the nerves in the boy's body as they disconnected.

His head rolled back, hitting the soft pillow placed behind him, and his other hand clenched the sheets. His entire body was tensed, agony coursing through it. While it was possible to take automail off without pain, it took a much longer time than dealing with the pain. Usually, the recuperation period was too vast to actually allow movement, but when you were Edward Elric, things changed. It still hurt like hell- that much was obvious when she saw the trouble he was going through to apply the proper pressure to his teeth. Hard enough to keep his cries in, but not so hard as to shatter them.

She bit her lip, sad. She hated having to do this to him each time. At least, this time, he'd gone unconscious more quickly than last time. It always hurt more reattaching automail than it did taking it off. The nerves were only too eager to connect once more.

"Sorry, Ed." she said, rubbing at her eyes as she packed the broken automail arm away. She quickly set the makeshift arm in place, and gathered her tools. Without saying goodbye to his sleeping form, she left. The sooner she could get the arm fixed, the sooner she could do as he asked and reattach it again. Even if he did pretend it wasn't as bad as it actually was.

On her way out, she nearly ran over Colonel Mustang. He seemed uncomfortable, but she shrugged, and greeted him.

"Ed's... not awake." she said, knowing he'd understand when he saw. "Please tell him I left."

"I will." the alchemist said, looking away as she left.

When he found the Fullmetal Alchemist's ward, he frowned. Someone had gotten rid of the number that had once been there and had replaced it with "Edward Elric". Suddenly, he wondered how many times Ed had been in the hospital without him knowing. After all, he was only notified when the injuries were particularly bad because of his position as the boy's superior.

Guilt hit him when he saw how frail the blonde looked. While it was known that he was short, he looked particularly small in the large, white hospital sheets. His eyes were drawn to the makeshift arm. He frowned. That idiot! He's injured! he thought, angrily.

He sat in the chair Riza had previously vacated. He sighed when he saw the beaded sweat on Ed's forehead. He carefully brushed the teen's hair back. Then, he waited. One hour, two. At three hours, he left to get something for himself to eat. He brought back an extra tray of food just in case his charge had woken.

It was just as well. Ed had woken up. And he'd been stretching.

"You idiot!" the Colonel scolded. "You'll reopen your wounds like that!"

"Yeah, like you care." the state alchemist said flippantly. Still, he stopped and sat down at the side of his bed. Obviously, his injuries did hurt.

"You'd be surprised to know I do." Mustang said to him, frowning. "Here." He thrust the tray to the boy. "I brought you something to eat."

"Thanks." Ed said, surprised. He accepted the tray, before starting in on the food.

"So, since when was this room yours?" Roy asked, accusingly, as he tore into a roll.

"Oh, that?" Ed chuckled. "It happened a while ago. They decided that since I came by so often, I might as well keep the room. They even hired a professional for the name plate."

Roy frowned. "Why is that funny?" He wanted to know, especially since it involved injuries and the systematic attainment and healing of them.

"Well, since I'm in here so much." he shrugged, not really sure of how to explain it. "It's just a morbid humor thing."

"Morbid humor." the elder man repeated. Then, he grew angry. "So now it's funny for you to get hurt? Is that why you do it? Because it's funny?!"

"Colonel...?" Ed called, a little worried. What was wrong with Roy?

"You're grounded."

He blinked. "What?"

"You, young man, are grounded!"

Ed grew angry. "You're not my father! You have no right to do that!"

Instantly, he was enveloped in a hug. "I'm not your father, but when you keep worrying me like this, what can I do but ground you? If grounding you keeps you from going outside while you're still injured, I'll gladly do it. Go back to sleep, Ed. I'll take care of you now."

The blonde glared at him. "I never asked for your help! I can damned well take care of myself!"

Roy didn't say anything for a moment, then he reached over and poked Ed in the rib. Almost instantly, the boy was doubled over on his bed, clutching his stomach.

"See how much that hurts?" Roy asked quietly. "You've already finished eating. Go to sleep."

"You're not my dad." Ed protested. Still, it was nice to have someone taking care of him. Someone that worried about him and wanted to protect him. Was that what having a father was like? He yawned. He hadn't thought he was so tired until Roy had started telling him to go to sleep.

"Tricky bastard..." he murmured. Then, his eyes closed.

"Yeah, I know, Ed." Mustang said, making sure the boy was covered by the sheets- no sense in letting him get cold. "You can hate me all you want, and I can hate you all I want, but I can't help but worry." He grinned down at the sleeping form. "Besides, this just means I can bother you more."

* * *

AN: That must've been terrible. I'm not very good at fitting ideas, but I tried. This is a gift fic for Tia Ordona 23- a constant reviewer, who definitely made me feel better about writing since I normally don't get constant reviewers. I know I can never get up to your level of writing, but I hope you enjoy this!

I don't know why, but it seems the bold and italicize tools aren't working currently. I'll try and fix it later when I do get it taken care of.


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